


Circular Life

by kuroneko1815



Series: Lady Constant [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 18:38:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13642164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuroneko1815/pseuds/kuroneko1815
Summary: Rose's entire life is a circular paradox. Many of the adults in her life had known who she was even before they had met her or her parents and they'd always watched her with fondness in their eyes and teasing hints at her future. Now it's time for her to close the circle, her past to their future while she hops along her husband's timeline long after (at least in her point of view) he'd left her on that beach with a metacrisis of himself (who liked to be called James Tyler). Thankfully, Gallifrey recognizes the marriage between a metacrisis and a natural born human as valid and binding to the full timelord should all parties consider the metacrisis as another incarnation of himself (and assuming that the timelord would have married the human in his other self's place).





	Circular Life

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Doctor Who (sadly). In this story, Pete died when Rose was six so he had enough time to build the company up. After he died, Jackie's dad who owned a bookshop, stepped up and took over running Vitex and expanding it beyond just health drinks. Jackie, on the other hand, went back to school and got a degree in business because she was unwilling to entrust Rose's inheritance to a stranger and she wasn't about to sell the company had worked so hard to create.

The first time he meets Rose Tyler is when she saunters into the UNIT Base and casually asks if they’ve seen _The Doctor_.  She seemed unbothered by the guns trained on her as she smiled at him, her head tilted to the side with her golden hair glinting in the sun. She was young and very beautiful wearing a short green dress and heels with a small purse slung over her shoulder and bracelets stacked on one of her arms (the other held a strange device). Alistair raised a brow at her.

“And who are you?” He asked her as the woman continued to beam at him with a fond smile.

“Oh Alistair, take me to the Doctor and you’ll find out.” She said with a laugh.

“You know me?” He couldn’t help but ask as he motioned for the men to lower their guns.

“Spoilers! Timelines and all that. Though this is the first time that you didn’t know who I was.” She said cheerily as Sergeant Benton walked behind her.

“How are you, John?” She asked as she turned her head slightly.

Alistair noticed that John stiffened and turned to the woman. “I’m fine, Ma’am.” He said stiffly.

“Oh, I hate that. Ma’am.” The woman said grimacing, the bracelets on her arms clinking lightly together.

The walk was awkward and when they finally came to the Doctor’s work area, they could hear the random little explosions from the various experiments that Liz Shaw and the Doctor were working on.

“Doctor!” Alistair called as he entered the office.

“Oh, Brigadier! Come, we’ve just isolated the signal!” The Doctor said excitedly as he began to drag him into the room.

He stopped the Doctor and gestured behind him. “There’s a woman who wants to see you.”

The Doctor peered behind his friend at the beautiful _young_ woman behind him and his hearts stuttered a bit and there was something there, a sense of familiarity and longing but he couldn’t quite place it, he had so many memories missing.

“I’m sorry, Miss. I don’t quite know you.” He said frowning.

“Did you lose your memory?” She asked in flawless Old High Gallifreyan and he stared astonished at the woman in front of him who was wearing a puzzled look. She wasn’t even Gallifreyan, that he knew, but how was she able to speak his ancestor’s language. From behind her, he saw Benton draw his gun as the Brigadier stiffened.

“Yes, I did. The High Council forced me to regenerate and took my memory.” He replied in the same slightly harsher yet still musical tones of his ancestral tongue.

She peered at him and reached out her mind, and as soon as it softly brushed his, he raised his hand as she stepped up in front of him and gently laid his hands at the sides of her temple. As soon as their minds connected, she lowered her barriers and he felt their bond flare to life and he saw all the moments he had with her for however brief or long in his two previous incarnations, had felt her amusement at his clothing choice. He pulled away from her and smiled before he drew her close for a hug.

“Hello.” He said as he breathed in her scent.

“Hello, My Doctor.” She said happily before she drew away from him and immediately pulled him in for a deep kiss. He returned it with equal fervor and ignored the startled gasps of the people around them, parting only when she needed to breathe.

He kept an arm around her waist and he never even worried about how he looked in this regeneration (definitely looked too old) because the emotions she’d showed when their minds connected was genuine and sincere. He met the incredulous stares of his three friends as Rose leaned her head on his shoulder. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he drew on their bond.

“Doctor…” The Brigadier began and cleared his throat. “Who is she?”

“Brigadier, Liz, Sergeant. I’d like you to meet Rose, my _Wife_.” He said proudly. “Darling, I’d like you to meet Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, my assistant Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, and Sergeant John Benton.” He said as Rose waved from her position.

“This is their first time meeting me but I’ve known them for a while now.” She told the Doctor.

“Ahh… one of those times?” The Doctor asked and she nodded.

The Brigadier looked at them curiously. “So she’s like you then, she regenerates?” He asked.

“No, I’m actually human. Born and raised in good old England in about… oh, less than twenty years.” She said with a laugh. “But certain circumstances happened and I’m now around four hundred Gallifreyan years.” She said with a look of indulgence.

“She’s the only human allowed on Gallifrey, but then again, who wants to deny the will of the Guardians?” The Doctor said. “How long will you be here for?” He asked after a moment as he turned to his wife.

“Not sure… I mean I was able to spend about two centuries with your first body but not really that much time with your second. Can’t exactly control when I leave or go. But at least I can have free passes using my heavily modified vortex manipulator.” She said raising her right arm.

“Perhaps we can use it to…” The Doctor began but she shook her head.

“Little trips only, Love.” She said. “And not unless absolutely necessary.” She finished firmly. When the Doctor nodded reluctantly she smiled.

“Good, now what were you and Doctor Shaw working on?”

* * *

 

Rose sat in their bedroom inside the TARDIS (one of the few rooms still accessible) as she read the Doctor’s five hundred year journal. She smiled as she read the entry where she’d come in, the frustration and bewilderment of the Doctor’s first incarnation at being presented with a wife that he’d never even met before. He was still trying to be a good Time Lord during those days and she’d let him.

_Today I was called to the Presidential office where my brother and Lord President Borusa had been awaiting me. I wondered what the meeting could be about as I’m fairly certain I’d not done anything scandalous of late, certainly not with Koschei or the rest of the Deca. I quickly realized that a woman in deep blue robes and long golden hair sat facing away from me. I thought nothing of her at the time._

_When the woman turned to face me, I was struck by her beauty but as a Time Lord, such fleeting flights of fancy were nothing but a triviality. She’d been introduced to me as Rose Tyler (a human by the sounds of it) and apparently my wife. I am not ashamed to admit that I lost my composure for a brief moment (and who wouldn’t?), after my rather vehement denial of the marriage that I had no knowledge of ever happening she leaned in close and whispered my true name before allowing her mind to touch mine. A bond that I had never even known existed flared to life and in that one glorious moment, I felt complete._

_I was overwhelmed by the sheer strength of her love for me but she’d relayed how sorry she was that she’d taken my choice from me. I merely nodded at her and asked how she’d come to be there so far away from the man that had married her and why she was allowed on Gallifrey. “She is here by the will of all of the Guardians and as such is under their protection.” Borusa had said imperiously. I knew that word of her presence would be spread soon and she would be the subject of many rumors though no attack ought to be expected, no one is foolish enough to harm one who is under the protection of a single guardian, let alone one who is under all their protection._

_I was given time from my duties in order to acquaint myself with my wife. Hardly a large difference from how it would be to a political marriage though when my wife mentioned that she was over a hundred Gallifreyan years, I did find myself curious as to how a human could achieve such an age. My wife seems kind enough and seems well acquainted with my tastes and needs. Even when Koschei had arrived under the guise of dropping off paperwork (really that man could gossip worse than Mortimus) he had been awed by her. One more thing I’m grateful for is that my wife, despite being human (though with an impossibly large number of years lived), had understood that to share a bed with her at this point would be something that I’ve yet come to terms with._

Rose giggled as she remembered how skittish the Doctor had been during those first days on Gallifrey. She’d just left Jenny and a rather old Tony on Earth after settling the details with her mum when the Golden Guardian had asked to meet with her. When she’d learned that she needed to close the circular paradox on her life by starting at the Doctor’s very beginning, she’d jumped at the chance.

The Doctor entered the bedroom and smiled at her as she continued giggling at the diary entries. He strode forward and gently plucked his diary from her hands and carefully placed it on the side table before leaning in to kiss her, his arms wrapping around her frame as he gently lowered her on to the bed. His wife’s proclivity to come and go, hopping along his time stream meant that he needed to take every opportunity he could get to spend time with her and to worship her.

* * *

 

Rose walked through the base utterly furious at her husband. The men all stepped away from her as she made her way back to the lab where the Tardis was parked. Her most recent fight with the Doctor had her swearing in Sycoraxic as she quickly grabbed her purse and she turned to Liz.

“If he asks where I am, tell him I’ve gone out and that I don’t need to report my every movement to him!” She tells the other woman as she turns to leave.

Liz watched her friend walk away before she shook her head. Rose was a brilliant woman from the not-quite-so-distant-future (if one didn’t account for her age) with a strong background in the sciences and a firm grasp of temporal physics that came from the centuries spent on Gallifrey but she never made her feel as though she were a foolish uneducated little girl like the Doctor tended to. Rose had explained that the arrogance was something that all Time Lords and Ladies were party to, and that they merely loved the sound of their own voices. The arrogance was not inborn though, the regular populace, the ‘commoners’ if you would, were more level-headed.

She glanced out the window and saw Rose huffing before finally getting into a car with Benton and she nodded to herself. Having Benton with her should keep the _jeopardy friendly_ woman safe and the Doctor appeased.

* * *

 

Rose sat inside the car as John drove them out of the base. Her hand went into her trans-dimensional purse and pulled out her superphone. She scrolled through her contacts and called the one person she knew she could vent too.

“It’s me. Listen, I know we’re not linear right now but can you meet me at the British Museum in a few minutes? I’ll explain everything later. Promise.” She said hastily. She smiled as she heard his reply. “Excellent! I’ll see you there. Maybe we can have some lunch, just like the old days.”

John glanced at the woman beside him but didn’t comment as he changed routes and drove them to the museum. His curiosity burned at him and he dreadfully wanted to ask about her ‘mobile’ but he knew better. Rose only let them know things that wouldn’t derail the timelines but she’d always come through for them. It had been something he’d learned in the two months that she’d been with them and he’d found a good friend in her. It was slightly jarring to know that she knew so much about him and his future but that he’d barely known her.

As they walked around the gallery he paused at the sight of a statue of Rose dressed in a toga with a benevolent smile on her face, one hand holding a cornucopia, the other was gone, and the inscriptions on it read _Goddess Fortuna – artist unknown_. Across the room, another statue of Rose dressed in a Grecian style toga-wearing a Mural crown and holding a wheel in one hand and a ship’s rudder in each hand. Her smile was more mischievous in this depiction. This statue read _Goddess Tyche – artist unknown_. Both statues were turned towards one another as though catching each other’s gaze and at the very center stood Rose herself and John had no doubts that the woman with him was the inspiration for both statues.

“Among the many names I’ve been called.” She said as she gestured to the statues. “My darling made both to close a circular paradox. It helped a lot when I was traveling, apparently, this was the most popular depiction of me so I was given whatever I wanted whenever I found myself in that time period.” She said cheekily.

“And what lovely statues they are but they don’t come close to the muse that inspired them.” A man’s voice rang out, the accent so obviously American and John turned, his hand going to his sidearm.

Rose squealed and threw her arms around the man who looked as though he’d just stepped out of the Second War. He laughed and drew her into a deep kiss. John was certain his brows disappeared past his hair and he half expected Rose to push him away but she returned it. He bristled, indignant on the Doctor’s behalf and about to storm at them ready to drag the woman back to base and demand that she explain herself.

They pulled away suddenly as they both gasped for air. “Hello, Jack!” Rose said brightly, slightly flushed but otherwise unfazed by the kiss.

“Hello, Rosie. Nice to see you on the ground, in this time period, without having to rescue you while you’re hanging over London clinging to a barrage balloon.” ‘Jack’ said cheerily.

“John, let me introduce you to a good friend of mine and a future companion of the Doctor’s, Captain Jack Harkness. Jack, this is John Benton, an old friend of the Doctor’s and mine.” She said happily as she clutched Jack’s arm.

Jack’s hand was firm and he gave him a flirtatious smile. “Nice to meet you.” He said wagging his brow suggestively.

“Jack!” Rose said warningly.

“I’m only being nice!” The indignant voice of the captain startled John out of his stupor.

“I’m sorry about Jack. He’s a former Time Agent from the 52nd Century and their rather flexible.” Rose said apologetically before understanding dawned and she started to giggle. “I’d always wondered how the two of you met! It never occurred to me that I introduced the two of you.” She said happily.

The two men glanced at her before eyeing each other wearily. “Rose, what’s this about us not being linear?” Jack asked as he shook his head, leading them away from the Ancient Greek and Rome collections and into the Ancient Egyptian collection where there were three statues of Rose, standing on the same base in Ancient Egyptian wear. _The Hemsuts – Fate Deities of Egypt_ , it read.

“How old would you say I am, Jack?” She asked quietly. Jack glanced at her and shrugged.

“26, 27? A few months after Satellite five?” Jack guessed.

“I’m four hundred _Gallifreyan_ years. The game station changed us both.” Rose said as she allowed the news to sink in, emphasizing _Gallifreyan_ because their measurement of years lived was different to the concept of human years. “And I am so sorry Jack but you’ll be waiting for a long time before you can have your reunion with him and then a little while more till we see each other again.”

“What do you mean?” Jack asked but Rose shook her head.

“2008, that’s when you’ll see him.” Rose told him. “But Jack, what happened to you… you can’t blame him for that. I was the one who turned you immortal. I might not be _in love_ with you but I did love you and I was selfish enough to resurrect you.” She said as she clung to his arm.

“Oh, Rosie. At least I have my answers now and while I’m not that happy about it, it has come in useful a time or two.” He paused as he disentangled himself from her and turned her to face him. “Knowing that you did this out of love, that you couldn’t bear the thought of the universe without me… it’s a great honor Rose Tyler… to be loved so much by you, even if you don’t love me like I do you and the Doctor.” He said.

John stood to the side awkwardly as he pondered everything he had learned. A human, one who wasn’t meant to live forever, one that was meant to be dead, trapped on Earth… immortal and alone, watching everyone he loved die. John shivered at the thought and made sure to file that information away only in his mind, there were things that should never be known by others, and the idea that the Doctor’s human wife was somehow capable of turning someone immortal would place a target on her back.

Sensing that the moment was over he led them away and Rose pointed out a chip shop that she claimed had amazing chips. They talked for a while and both men found camaraderie as they listened to Rose vent her anger about their fight when she’d finally tired herself out, they began to spoke of adventures that the two had shared and eventually Jack spoke about his job. Torchwood, was apparently, an organization like UNIT contained only within Great Britain and focused on the good of the ‘British Empire’.

At this, the conversation took a more serious turn. “Torchwood Three doesn’t have that deep a connection with the main branch, in fact, it’s tenuous at best.” Jack said.

“I’d watch Torchwood One if I were you. Particularly in the early half of the twenty-first century. There isn’t much that they wouldn’t do for the so-called ‘British Empire’.” Rose spat in disgust.

Jack nodded as his fist clenched. “I know.” Jack said as he settled the bill and gestured to them to follow him out. They walked back to the car as soon as John had the car on the road he began.

“Four years ago Torchwood One and certain figures of the British Government made the decision to hand over twelve children, orphans, from Scotland in return for a cure for a mutated form of the Spanish Influenza that had begun to take hold. It was projected to kill half the world’s population.” The horrified gasp of Rose told John that he wasn’t the only one who was disgusted by the actions of their government’s leaders.

“They tied my hands by going after my family, my descendants. I haven’t even laid eyes on them, not connected with any of them since my children died but they were still taken. I told them that their arrival just as the epidemic began was suspicious. I warned them that they would be back if we gave them the children but they wouldn’t listen.” Jack told them honestly. “And I’m scared about what would happen when they come back.”

“The flu was their own creation.” Rose said and from the mirror, John saw Rose’s eyes glow gold momentarily. “And they will be back. You’ll have time to prepare.” Rose said.

“I can bring this to the Brigadier and we can start planning together. Just bring me some files.” John said. “I trust this is one of those occasions where the Doctor must absolutely not know?”

“This whole day actually… or at least the parts that included Jack.” Rose said before turning to Jack. “He’ll be able to sense you if you come close to him so please try not to cross his path. When I made you immortal you became a fixed point in time, a fact. The Tardis loves you but until she becomes accustomed to you again, she’ll keep running.”

“It’s alright Rosie. At least I’ll have you to help me through it. Keep your phone on.” Jack said as he stepped out of the car, Rose following as she gave him a hug and Jack pressed a kiss on her forehead before nodding to John.

“Roughly how many years do we have to prepare for this?” John asked as he drove them back to the base.

“Not until the 21st century at least. You should be retired by then but having a plan in place should be helpful, as well as an idea on what type of species these aliens are.”

“And we can trust Captain Harkness?”

“I’d trust him with my life. He did die to save me and to stop an invasion on Earth.” Rose said seriously.

They arrived back to the base and were met with a sulking and thoroughly apologetic Doctor. It was quite amusing to see the Doctor practically beg for his wife’s forgiveness but John’s smile slid from his face as he approached the Brigadier.

When Rose had finally gotten free of the Doctor and sent him back to his lab, she met them in the Brigadier’s office and he’d been as appalled as they were at the situation. His mind already running through the possible scenarios.

John went with Rose again when Jack called her a week later for an ‘outing’, the file discreetly passed and placed within her bigger-on-the-inside handbag. Between the reports and the sketch of the alien (quietly searched through the Tardis archive), they’d begun some form of plan. And after a little while, John had even found a friend in Jack Harkness.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is inspired partly by GroovyKat's Just a Human; Lumendea and her Guardians series; and The Alternative Source's I promise. All very good stories/series.
> 
> Just a little Note:  
> 100 Gallifreyan years is the equivalent of five hundred human years. Rose spent a lot of time traveling in the parallel world after the human Doctor died. Jenny had crashed on Earth where Rose and James found her, she decided to stay on the Parallel Earth for a while with her Uncle Tony before they both decided to join Rose in returning to the original universe. Right now though
> 
> Please tell me what you think. I'd really like to know if people will be interested in this going forward because if they are, I might turn it into a series with certain figures having a one-shot. Please do keep in mind that this was written past midnight and is just the first chapter.


End file.
